Jan--
Can't speak to treatment, since I'm currently still managing without meds. RLS runs in my family, and I've had it for sure since my teens (probably some childhood foot/leg problems were also RLS, but who knew? and I don't remember enough details to piece it together now.)
Mine's gotten worse as years have gone on. Sensations both more intense and more frequent gradually through my 20s and the first half of my 30s'... classically worse when I had the flu or took cold meds, worse when I was fatigued or stayed up late.
I first heard of RLS from a friend in my mid-30s, then a year or two ago, I came back on-line for more research and support because all the sudden my RLS went from nightly to 24/7 for a more than a week. Becasue I had read when I first heard about the condition that it was "progressive", I was REALLY worried that from then on I'd have it 24/7.
I lucked out, and I do not have RLS 24/7 every day. I have SOME form of RLS pretty much every day. On "good" days, it starts mid- to late-afternoon and goes until I go to sleep. Sometimes it's still there if I wake in the middle of the night, and increasingly, it's there first thing in the morning, too.
But I would guess maybe three days a week, in an average week, I have it 24 hours a day, any time I sit or stand still. I may have it all-day more days a week, but I currently don't have a work situation where I have to sit... so in the mornings, I'm usually up and around where I woudn't feel it much anyway. Its' not until I sit in the afternoon, to catch the news or check e-mail, etc., that I really have much chnce to feel it.
I did want to say that although I don't have pain with my RLS (though the sensations on a bad night are bad enough that it's a VERY "painful" experience, if you get my distinction... not just "uncomfortable"), I have had a history of leg fatigue which several RLSers I know seem to also have.
I also wanted to say, I am able to sleep despite my RLS (and so are some of the RLSers in my family)... we don't walk the floors all night. In fact, for me, going to bed it the one and only "cure" for a bad night of RLS. Sitting is torture, but if I get ready for bed, then read, I will almost always be able to get to sleep. Also, the later I wait to go to bed, the worse my RLS will be and the harder it is to get to sleep at all.
I have had periods when RLS discomfort woke me early (the morning RLS and 24/7 RLS) and would not allow me to get back to sleep, too, but at least I'm lucky to GET to sleep in the first place.
No help for you in this, Jan. But I think that 24/7 symptoms CAN definitely be part of RLS. I have NO doubts that that's what I have, even though I have it in the mornings, even though it's more in my feet than my legs, etc.
I don't recall my medical terminology that well, but I think that's part of why they call it a syndrome, isn't it? Because it's a group of related symptoms, rather than a specific and exact set of them. Seems like the similarities betwen all our cases are MUCH more impressive than the differences. There just aren't that many other things it could be causing these types of groups of symptoms, anyway.
You take care.
Sara